Posted: 12:04 am by tom in
Blog,
Blogging,
Marketing
In business it’s generally considered easier to succeed with some success already behind you (look at economies of scale) - the same goes for blogging. Every blogger wants to become successful or a so called ‘pro blogger’ but do we ever stop to think about why? Fame? Money? Sure, these things are worth aspiring to, but for me, I’m hoping for a point where blogging gets easier and easier.
I’ve outlined the following 5 reasons why it’s easier to be a ‘pro blogger’:
1.) They can can spend more time writing and less time promoting - People are more likely to stick around and read your blog if it’s established, has a large readership and has built up a reputation for itself. All of these factors mean that your blog will effectively promote itself. This means no more killing yourself working at 3am striving for those 10 extra StumbleUpon visitors who MIGHT stick around. Starting out blogging is hard work, you put everything into it and it takes considerable time and effort to see results. When your blog has reached a certain level people will be talking about it outside of your control. Viral marketing will take hold and your blog will see more exponential growth rather than growing directly as a result of your hard work promoting. Think about it, first time readers will be more likely to stick around at ProBlogger than your average Blogspot blog. People are drawn to success. You will also see far more success on social networking sites if you have a large readership.
2.) Their words have more impact. If you’re successful people will listen to you more. If you have facts and figures to back up your words then they will hold far more weight with your readers. I know that I’m drawn to post titles like ‘How I made $1 million in 6 months blogging’. You will be regarded as an expert on your topic, and in one sense you have less to prove (you evidently know what you’re talking about). Of course the flip-side to this argument is that you have more to prove as you can’t afford to let down or misinform a massive audience.
3.) They don’t need to spend as much time learning - This point is debatable, as bloggers of all levels are constantly learning new things. However, I personally believe that the learning curve is especially steep for new bloggers. You are learning what works, which posts are more successful, and trying many things for the very first time. Established bloggers have it easy by comparison - they can draw on their past success to know just what works and use this to their advantage.
4.) They have more motivation to blog - The fact is that I feel more motivated to write when my subscriber and traffic stats are rising. I can’t imagine the urge that very large bloggers have to write, as personally I would give my left arm to have hundreds of thousands of people reading my humble thoughts. Of course you can argue that once you’ve achieve success you have nothing to work for, but we all know that it doesn’t work like this. You don’t see many pro bloggers just give up because they get bored, they’re loving every minute of it.
5.) People will approach THEM. - This point links to number 1, but I hear of many pro bloggers moaning about just how many emails they get in their inbox each day. Oh boo hoo… The fact is that most of us would kill to be at the point where fellow bloggers are begging us for link exchanges, reviews, and advice. If you’re a successful blogger then you can utilize things such as guest blogging - you’ll probably have a backlog of quality articles to use when you’re not feeling inspired. Rather than spending time finding others to network with you can just concentrate on your own blog and people will come to you.
haha its funny, because i found your blog through Jon and have been coming everyday since
Hey Paul
I wouldn’t really say that Jon is a pro blogger - more of an entrepreneur. I mean I love his blog and read it frequently, but I don’t think that he has yet reached this point that I’m describing. Sorry if this post came off as somewhat negative, but I’m really saying that this is what I’m aspiring to, it’s not a bad thing. These people earned it.
It seems to me so very hard to become a Pro Blogger, but after all, what’s easy in this life? I think it’s very hard work combined with a bit of luck. To be honest, I think some of the pro bloggers don’t quite deserve it, and some are so obviously in it just for the money. There a lot of small time bloggers out there that I like reading better than the big shots that get all the attention. We all aspire for our blogs to become famous one day, but I take my time and enjoy the journey, being happy for every little progress I make.
I think enjoying the journey is key. You can’t always just be thinking of the success you aspire to. I find it helps to focus on the positives, and really use them to your advantage. Every nice comment is always incentive to keep going.
4.) They have more motivation to blog.
I think this one is closely realted to them making money by the blogging. Money always is a motivation for a lot of things.
Yep that’s definitely a good point. If I was making my living blogging I would pour my all into it. Unfortunately sometimes other things have to take precedence….
[…] persona and respect to back up some strategies. This is further explored in an older post of mine: ‘Pro Bloggers Have it Easy’. Please don’t think that I have something against pro bloggers by the way. I really admire […]